I’ve seen Avatar 2: The Way Of Water twice now in strong 3D on the big screen. And even though the sequel to “Avatar” doesn’t have to last more than three hours and James Cameron again presents a few involuntarily funny and flat dialogues, his film is an experience. I was particularly impressed by the pictures of the underwater world. This also includes the bombastic finale with its clear “titanic“-References. Still, I have a big problem with this part of the movie.
And I don’t want to join the chorus of many critics who rightly complain that this is all taking too long and that there may be one child abduction too many. That’s true, but my problem is a completely different one: As bombastic and awesome as it all looks, Cameron failed to make me feel like I was in a real fight in the finale, where there are constant cracks on so many fronts. Because he makes cardinal mistakes that are far too common in blockbuster cinemas during major confrontations.
Keywords: Lack of clarity and disappearing or standing figures…
Who does what?
What do I mean? The finale of Avatar 2: The Way Of Water is deliberately chaotic. This time, Jake (Sam Worthington) couldn’t plan his confrontation with Quaritch (Stephen Lang) like he did for the Avatar finale. He has to respond. This chaos is not a bad thing, it can help the action and especially support the tension – and it does here too in the first few minutes when the opponents are at a greater distance from each other in the beginning.
When the Tulkun Nalutsa emerges from the depths of the sea and the real confrontation begins, it is an impressive moment that will be followed by many more. What comes next is first class. When the Na’vi of the Metkayina Clan and Nalutsa decimate the humans and their whalers battle for survival, things heat up on all fronts. Last in between, we have the threatened children and the confrontations of Jake and Quaritch.
But all too soon I got the impression that James Cameron and his team were getting a little overwhelmed – and he didn’t know what else to tell and show in different corners of the event. Little by little, parts of this discussion are completely disappearing from focus. On the one hand, this caused my overview to disappear: What is who doing now? I only knew it from the characters that are actually on display at the moment. However, a great action finale gives you an idea of what’s happening beyond the visible frame.
Have the Metkayina gone home?
In “Avatar 2” the opposite is the case. Characters only seem to act when they’re on screen. Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), initially attacking from the air, eventually disappears for minutes, only to reappear in a tragic moment and play a role again from there. Even worse ignored is the Metkayina clan. Driving on Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), Ronald (Kate Winslet) and her people just go home for once? In any case, they completely disappear from the actionplay almost no part in the entire battle for the sinking ship – only Tsireya (Bailey Bass) is left, but must do without the support of her parents.
A wall of fire built briefly into the action to show us that the last combatants on the ship are cut off from the rest only seems like a (very belated at this point) justification for ignoring everything outside.
Of course, such a showdown always focuses on the main characters. We are interested in them, we support them. How secondary characters fight each other can make for great, satisfying moments (the arm-down scene even caused a brief round of applause at the cinema at the German premiere), but it’s secondary.
The art is therefore to at least give the impression that these secondary characters are still there, even if we only see the main characters. “Avatar 2” does not. At one point I got the feeling that all the other characters have either stopped or gone home. The predecessor did this better. There the final was not only clearer, but it also concerned me much more. I could root for more.
High-level criticism: watch “Avatar 2” in theaters!
Nevertheless, visually, of course, the finale of “Avatar 2” is a completely different track. 13 years after the first part, James Cameron has further improved the technique and can yield even more. And what happens underwater just looks damn impressive. Therefore, my criticism at the end should not be taken as a warning against “Avatar 2” – on the contrary.
Avatar 2: The Way Of Water is a must-see movie, preferably on a very large screen and in 3D! By the way, there’s more about James Cameron’s return to Pandora in the current edition of our Love on the Screen podcast. For the discussion on “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water”, our moderators Sebastian and Pascal have YouTuber David Hain as a guest this time: